LEARN A LANGUAGE: Many educators, and now a few lawmakers, believe that kids need to speak more than English and schools need to offer more than Spanish, French and German. But few really think that just changing the law to make certification easier will make it happen.

A CHEAPER PROM: Pasco's Cinderella Project helps girls who can't afford a dress get one and now, for the first time, it's offering tux rental assistance for the boys, too.

CHEATING FOR CLASS SIZE: A Palm Beach principal is under investigation for inventing 24 students that allowed her to get an extra teacher for the middle school, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

LET THE CUTTING BEGIN: Gov. Crist approves $512-million in budget reductions for the current fiscal year, and plans get underway for how to deal with billions more in reduced revenue for the coming year, the Palm Beach Post reports.

A DEAL IS A DEAL: And former Duval superintendent Joseph Wise appears to have broken his with his former bosses, the Florida Times-Union reports. He took at least $280,000 in exchange for agreeing not to pursue claims against board members, and yet there's his attempt to go after one of them, a lawyer, at the Florida Bar.

PREPOSTEROUS: That's how the Daytona Beach News-Journal rates the Legislature's effort to change the Board of Governors and the education commissioner's job through a multi-issue constitutional amendment.

SHE THOUGHT IT WAS A NEW RULE: One of the seniors in the Lee County high school who had her FCAT makeup invalidated because of a dictionary on her desk tells WBBH TV that after asking the teacher three times whether it was OK to have the book, she figured it was a new rule. But she was wrong.

CHECK YOUR BALANCES: A hacker breaks into a database containing all sorts of personal information for Broward school employees, the Miami Herald reports.

IT HURTS: Families struggle with the Miami-Dade School Board's decision to close Liberty City Charter School, the Miami Herald reports.

Visit the Gradebook at noon for an interview with Shan Goff, who oversees early education programs for the Florida Department of Education. She talks about proposed new math standards for VPK.

About the blog

Gradebook features education articles and insights on schools in Florida, focusing on Tampa Bay area schools. What's the latest from the Florida Department of Education? How is the FCAT being used to compare Florida schools? What's going on in Tampa Bay schools? Get an insider's view from the Times education reporting team.